Midsummer celebrations, major congresses and EuroGames 2016 enliven Helsinki in June and July

Mon, Jun 20, 2016 11:10 CET

Helsinki’s meeting venues and streets will be filled in late June and early July with congress delegates and international athletes.

Photo: Jussi Hellsten

The Finnish Midsummer celebrations, Juhannus, are right around the corner, offering lots of fun activities for visitors to experience. Visit Helsinki has published a comprehensive Midsummer Bulletin with information about exceptional opening hours at museums, sights and restaurants, as well as information about open-air dances and Midsummer dances.

The end of June and beginning of July will be also be busy in Helsinki in terms of congress visitors. The international convention of the Jehovah's Witnesses will be held at the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre from 24 to 26 June 2016 during the Midsummer weekend. The convention is expected to attract approximately 12,000 visitors from around the world, including Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia and the USA.

Next up after the Midsummer holidays will be the ICANN56 Policy Forum (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is expected to attract 1500 delegates. The forum will be held from 27 to 30 June 2016 at Finlandia Hall. ICANN is a not-for-profit organisation that coordinates the internet's naming system.

Around the same time, the EASR 2016 Conference (European Association for the Study of Religions) will be held at the University of Helsinki from 28 June to 1 July 2016. This conference is expected to be attended by 400 people.

Right afterwards, an estimated 8000 embryologists will attend the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) at the Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre from 3 to 6 July 2016.

In addition to the buzz created by these international congresses, the summer in Helsinki will be further enlivened by EuroGames 2016 from 29 June to 2 July 2016. The opening ceremonies of the biggest LGBTIQ sporting event in Europe will take place at Kansalaistori on Wednesday 29 June during Helsinki Pride week. This is the first time that this major sporting event will be held in Finland, and it is expected to attract around 3000 athletes and 2000 spectators from around the world. The patron of the event is President Sauli Niinistö.

“On the basis of bednight statistics for the start of the year, we can expect a good tourism season this summer in Helsinki. The number of overnight stays in January-April increased by 8 percent year-on-year,” says Tuulikki Becker, CEO of Visit Helsinki.

“We are following with interest the growing number of visitors from China in particular, as the number of overnight stays by Chinese visitors increased by 27 percent at the start of this year. According to the border survey, the total number of visitors from China to Helsinki Region last year amounted to 477,000, and this year it looks like the figure will be topped,” Becker adds.

“Helsinki has an exceptional number of new attractions and appealing events throughout the summer that cannot help but further stimulate tourism in Helsinki.” Becker concludes.

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